


Your Fault

by DrMcNastyPhD



Category: Dungeons & Dragons (Roleplaying Game), Dungeons & Dragons - All Media Types
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-01
Updated: 2020-10-01
Packaged: 2021-03-07 21:14:02
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 633
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26744197
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DrMcNastyPhD/pseuds/DrMcNastyPhD
Summary: This takes place right after "warmth"Bella as succeeded in her experiment and successfully became a lich. Phaele is enraged and turns to her father figure Neokan because in some strange way it is his fault. He has spent the last 3 decades being bodyguards to both of the women, be it separate or together and thus this has to somehow be his fault. How can he have so much experience and let this happen?





	Your Fault

Neokan was taking one of his rare breaks from watching over Phaele when the door to his quarters was violently kicked in. He simply stared at the open door, confident he could handle whatever assailant would dare come in. He was sorely mistaken. 

In comes Phaele like a raging storm, carrying Bella, bringing down the temperature in the room by a solid 20 degrees. She placed Bella on a chair, stormed back over to the door, closed it, locked it and stomped over to him as he sat there dumbfounded. This was the first time she came to him in 15 years. And carrying Bella no less. His heart swelled remembering the many times in their adolescence when Phaele would bring Bella to him while throwing a fit. Usually because someone called her weird or made some other slight or, gods forbid, hit on Bella. He was in his late twenties/early thirties, and he would love these times. Letting his adoptive daughter rant to him about trivial problems. Just like old times.

That thought line ended when Phaele punched him in the chest.  _ This is new _ .    
  


“WHY DIDN'T YOU DO YOUR JOB!!??” another punch to the chest

“What are you talking about?” third punch

“YOU WERE SUPPOSED TO LOOK OUT FOR US, PROTECT US, KEEP US SAFE, KEEP US  **_ALIVE!”_ ** tears are streaming down her face.

Neokan looks confused between the woman hitting him and the halfling sitting across the room. Sure Bella has that telltale looks she gets when she’s guilty of something bad but she appears to be in one piece. He tells Phaele such. 

“Touch her.”

“What?”   
“ _ Touch. Her” _

Confused Neokan rose to his feet and walked over to Bella and extended his hand. She flinches as his hand approaches.  _ That's also new. _ He grabs the arm of the halfling. It felt cold, ice cold. About par for the course when being carried by a woman who’s control of the temperature reflected her attitude and she was livid currently.

“So she’s cold, what about it? This room developed a chill the second you came in here. I can see my breath. The only thing weird is that you let it get this bad, usually she’d complain before it got this cold.”   
“Exactly” she practically spat the word. “Check her pulse”

“Why?”   
“Do it.”

He once again reached for her the arm of the halfling. This time Bella pulled away and curled into a ball keeping her extremities inside. _ Tonight is a night of fitrts it seems. _ Bella had never been like this towards him. Sure there were times when she feared his response to something she had done, but that was childlike fear of being reprimanded. Being a verteran warrior he could tell this fear was genuine. 

With a much firmer hand, yet still gentle, he pried open the halfling ball taking great cares not to hurt her. He then grabbed her arm again this time feeling for a pulse. He didn't find one. Confused he reached for the other arm, same thing. A bit more frantically he checked her jugular. Nothing. As a last ditch effort he picked up the halfling and held her chest to his ear. No heartbeat.

“Wha-what is this?”

“Just take the letter at face value” she said mockingly. “Well this is what happens when I follow your advice. The ‘strongest man’ in the country couldn't stop his charge from killing herself. Let me let you in on a little secret. If you ever want to feel her warmth again come find me, cause the only way you will feel it is through this.” she hands him the miniature of Bella.

Just like what Phaele had gone through just minutes earlier, he felt the warmth of the statue.

_ One more first. I’m a failure. _

  
  



End file.
